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Remington Steelers
The Remington Steelers is a cover band fronted by Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Founded in 1999 to cover songs, the original lineup featured Rupert on vocals, keyboards, and guitar, Emma on vocals, keyboards, synths, and guitar, Steve Jay on vocals and bass, and Ringo Starr on vocals and drums. In 2002, Daniel Radcliffe took over on bass, while in 2005, Starr was replaced by Bermuda Schwartz, who in turn would leave the band in February of 2007 to tour full-time with Weird Al Yankovic. He was replaced in March of that same year by Kay Panabaker, who, along with honorary fifth member Izzy Stradlin, completed the current line-up. History Foundation In January of 1999 Rupert Grint and Emma Watson met on the set of their first motion picture together and decided that they should form a band that did nothing but cover songs. They chose the name as a portmanteau of the American detective series "Remington Steele" and the NFL football team the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Interestingly, the series also got its name from the Pittsburgh Steelers.) Afterwards, they hightailed it to Screenmusic Studios in Studio City, California to record their first song, a cover of "Another One Rides the Bus", a song written by Weird Al Yankovic that was famously ripped off by Queen. After they recorded it, Weird Al came by and asked the then kids who they were, and Rupert replied, "Just a couple of kids who are finished recording one of your songs." Emma allowed Weird Al to attend a mixing session, and when he heard the final product, he was amazed that the kids did the keyboards and percussion themselves. Steve Jay and Ringo Starr join Shortly after they finished recording another Weird Al cover, "It's Still Billy Joel To Me", they realized that they needed a bassist, so they asked Weird Al to supply them with his own bassist, who turned out to be Steve Jay. Then they put out wanted ads for a drummer with experience, and Ringo Starr answered the call. The band was complete. Together, they recorded their moderately successful self-titled debut album. Daniel Radcliffe joins After they recorded their first successful album, "Pirates of Encino" (which contained a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"), the band was reported to be drifting apart by the L.A. Times; however, that was only a ruse, as the only person who actually left in the midst of all the so-called turmoil was Steve Jay. When Jay left to work full time with Weird Al Yankovic, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson remembered Daniel Radcliffe, an English lad who Watson had worked with in a musical about a girl (Emma) with throat cancer who aspires to become a J-Pop singer to impress her boyfriend (Daniel), who dies in a car accident in America. Daniel was quickly hired as the bassist, and together, they recorded the album "Public Broadcasting Service". It contained a couple of long songs, "American Pie" and "MacArthur Park", which nevertheless topped the charts (ironically, "MacArthur Park" was the B-side of the "American Pie" single), as well as re-recordings of theme songs from Speed Racer, The Flintstones, and Reading Rainbow. Their covers make the movie industry In 2003, they were hired to make a heavy metal cover of the theme song to Sailor Moon, "Moonlight densetsu", which was the first single off of the O.S.T. for the film. It appeared on both the O.S.T. and the band's fourth album, "Killer Steelers". The album's cover, which featured the band in the same pose Queen did for their "Sheer Heart Attack" album, became a subject of much debate among Queen fans who liked their albums (except for "Flash Gordon O.S.T."). Also, their cover of "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" made it into the aforementioned film (during the part where the junior high students arrive in an empty yet familiar classroom and their teacher falls asleep mysteriously during class). Their first tour during these concerts?"]] Before "Killer Steelers"'s August 2003 release, the band went on their first tour, titled "Tour de America". They opened with "La Bamba" and closed with "Instant Karma". Their tour started in Petco Park in San Diego, moved along the border, went through the baseball and football stadiums in the major cities in the South (including the home of the Birmingham Niggers), went along the East Coast, moved westward after their performance at Yankee Stadium, ripped through the Midwest like a tornado, moved into Seattle, Washington, and went along the West Coast before finally stopping in Los Angeles. This would be the route for all future tours. The high mosh pit injury rate attracted the ire of Sesame Street Muppets, including Cookie Monster, as seen in this picture. Also, the tour started the band's tradition of having a member (and occasionally a groupie) stage dive and performing parts of some songs while among the audience as well as showing related videos, including E-TV (the E standing for Emma) segments where Emma interviews a random singer. Bermuda Schwartz joins After the band finished The Speedy Tour to promote their fifth album, "Speed", Ringo Starr retired from the band, and they once again turned to Weird Al Yankovic to supply a drummer: Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz. Together, the new version of the band started work on a tribute album called "The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Album". The album consisted entirely of songs written or covered by Guns N Fucking Roses, including the hit single "Welcome to the Jungle". According to a legend within the band (which was proved to be true by video footage), Rupert Grint asked W. Axl Rose during the former's 14th birthday party if he could make an album consisting entirely of Guns N Roses related songs for the band's 20th birthday, and Rose accepted. He then spent all his free time up to The Speedy Tour trying to figure out which songs to cover for the album. After Bermuda joined the band, Rupert showed the final version of the track listing on the band's official website. The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Tour For the band's third tour, The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Tour, songs from the album counterpart were combined with two songs performed regularly by the band on tour and songs from previous versions of the tracklist for The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Album to make the tour setlist. Also, former Guns N Roses rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin unwittingly becoming a guest on the tour during a rehab process to get rid of his fear of touring, playing rhythm guitar during various songs, including "Rocket Queen", which was a B-side on one of the album's singles, and "You Could Be Mine". The new opener sequence, consisting of "Welcome to the Jungle", "La Bamba", "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "It's So Easy" in that order, debuted with this new tour. The tour was also notable in that it was the first tour to feature Rupert in a dress or skirt during at least one song. The songs where Rupert was in drag were "Paradise City", "You Could Be Mine", "Don't Damn Me", and "Get in the Ring". It also included footage of the Riverport Riot that started with an attempted performance of "Rocket Queen" by Guns N Roses and footage of Al Gore's coversation with GNR, as seen in this photo, among others. The last 2-D tour During the fourth tour, Rupert Grint made a note that this would be the last tour that the band was filming in 2-D. Also during the song "Working Class Hero", Rupert was handed a notice telling him that factual info was being leaked onto Uncyclopedia non-stop. "Who leaked the factual info?" Rupert famously demanded. "To resolve this, call Bob-kun and Dennis-kun and have them fix it." This happened during a show at Yankee Stadium. Also, two songs became mainstays starting with this tour: "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", both songs during which Rupert always wore feminine attire. While he was getting changed for the occasion, Emma Watson would always perform her own rendition of "Sk8er Boi", and while he was getting into costume for "Working Class Hero", she performed "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". And while Rupert was changing back into the clothes he started the performance in, she performed "One in a Million", adding a disclaimer that nobody in the band was racist or homophobic. After she performed the song during the performance at the home of the Birmingham Niggers, she yelled into the microphone, "Thank you for not getting any racist ideas into your fucking heads the two times we performed this song here, all ye residents of Birmingham!" The tour promoted the seventh album by the band, "You Snooze, You Lose", and it also marked the first time the band performed Velvet Revolver's song "Slither" live. Introducing Kay Panabaker In February of 2007, it was announced that Bermuda Schwartz was leaving to work with Weird Al Yankovic full time. A month later, it was announced that Kay Panabaker, who had joined the band in 2005 as a groupie, had been promoted to drummer to fill the gap left by Bermuda's departure. The lineup fully secured, the band performed at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles, California on March 13, 2007 live. The whole thing was recorded on tape and filmed for a CD/DVD release. It was Rupert Grint's idea that he wear a Haruhi Suzumiya uniform cosplay costume (lent to him by Emma Watson) for the occasion, and the band performed their usual opener first, with Rupert yelling the opening line to start the concert: "Do you know where the fuck you are? You're in the jungle, baby! Wake up; time to die!" As soon as the crowd saw him wearing a skirt, mosh pits started forming like crazy, and the danger level was multiplied by the killer star power delivered during the songs while the moshing, which encompassed the entirety of the audience, continued for the duration of the performance. Of course, the injury level was nowhere near that of a typical Remington Steelers concert. When Lem Sportsinterviews came up to interview the band right after the performance, Rupert famously said, "I find it funny that mosh pits often form when I'm wearing a skirt." The CD/DVD release was completed in a couple of weeks, and the release date was set for April 1, 2007, by which time Izzy Stradlin joined the band as an honorary fifth member. The first 3-D tour , though, this time it did start a riot.]] "slammed his mic on the floor", to quote Slash]] The new Remington Steelers album, "In 3-D", set the stage for a 3-D concert film featuring the entirety of their fifth tour. Filmed at various locations around America, the film was the first 3-D tour ever to be released, predating U2's 3-D concert film by a few months. At a performance at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, a record number of injuries resulting from mosh pits occurred during a performance of "We Will Rock You", with one death resulting. When Emma Watson looked at the mosh pits after the song finished, she said, "In the words of Mr. T, I pity the fool who moshed improperly and therefore slipped and fell and got trampled and so the Remington Fucking Steelers will not accept any responsibility for this fatality. Start moshing properly, people, and if you don't, then may God have mercy on your souls!" She then proceeded to slam the microphone on the floor, causing some people to think that someone got shot and giving other people bad memories of the Riverport Riot. This moment was filmed for the 3-D concert film. The tour also featured random groupies as backup dancers during the band's performance of "Hare hare yukai", the first of three consecutive songs that featured guest performer Duff McKagan of Velvet Revolver on bass. The tour finished its course just days before an IPO caper forced Rupert to go into hiding in Japan and masquerade as a mysterious transfer student named "Sakura Watanabe" for a month and a half. Coincidentally, Emma was in the same school and classes "she" was in. Of course, the LAPD took care of the IPO mob responsible in October of 2007, rendering it safe for Rupert to return. Meanwhile, a couple of days before the incident, the band participated in the Monsters of Rock festival, with Rupert and Emma wearing the costumes they'd wear for all future Steelers festival appearences: a sailor fuku, baggy socks, and buckle shoes for Rupert and a leather jacket, Guns N Roses T-shirt, blue jeans, and motorcycle boots for Emma. The IPO Incident? Rupert Grint was lucky to have Emma Watson to keep his identity a secret while he was in Japan. When they returned to Screenmusic Studios later in October 2007 to discuss a possible name for the next album, Rupert suggested "The IPO Incident?" Emma asked why, and Rupert replied, "Those motherfuckers tried to kill me! I was just paying tribute to the incident by naming our new album 'The IPO Incident?' because it helped to make my cross-dressing an everyday thing." The band held a Welcome Home concert for Rupert on October 18, for which Rupert once again wore Emma's Haruhi Suzumiya costume (plus a Haruhi ribbon he got with a VHS of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol. 1 just one day beforehand). Shortly after recording finished in May 2008, Robert Knox, a Mosher who had appeared as Daniel Radcliffe's rival in Hana-Kimi and as Emma's partner in Bleach, was tragically murdered. At Knox's funeral, Emma performed a rendition of Taps on her Gibson electric guitar, and the band performed "Live and Let Die" and "Civil War". In doing so, they became the first band to perform hard rock music at a funeral. After they returned to Encino, production on the album continued like normal, and the album was released August 2, 2008. The Harsh Reality So far, Emma Watson has confirmed several things about their tenth album, tentatively titled "The Harsh Reality": *The tracks will be live versions of "Taps", "Live and Let Die", and "Civil War" as recorded at the funeral of Robert Knox, "Gangsta's Paradise", "Black Hole Sun", "Waga rōtashi aku no hana", "Forever Love", "So Fine", "Eye of the Tiger", the alternate version of "Don't Cry" from back when Bermuda Schwartz was still the drummer, "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory", "This I Love", "Seasons in the Abyss", "Te wo toriatte", "Twist of Cain", "Wake Me Up When September Ends", "She Rides", "The Show Must Go On", "Mother", "Skeletons of Society", "Her Black Wings", "Paint It, Black", "Expendable Youth", "Seikan hikou", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and "Void in My Life" *Emma will record the vocals for "So Fine", "Eye of the Tiger", "Forever Love", "Waga rōtashi aku no hana", "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory", and "Seikan hikou". *Emma will also record all the instrument parts for "Eye of the Tiger" and "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory". *Singles and music videos will be released for "So Fine", "Waga rōtashi aku no hana", "Seikan hikou", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and "Don't Cry (alternate lyrics)". *The music video for "So Fine" will end with Emma visiting her own death in a manner similar to the ending to the GNR music video for "Don't Cry": she walks past two tombstones, one reading "ROBERT KNOX 1989-2008" and the other reading "EMMA WATSON 1990-2008". *The music video for "Waga rōtashi aku no hana" will feature original animated footage directed by Code Geass co-creator Gorō Taniguchi, including an animated Emma singing the song alongside a live-action Emma playing the synth parts. *"Don't Cry" (alternate lyrics) will feature Rupert Grint and Izzy Stradlin on lead vocals. *Emma has dedicated the album to Robert Knox and Natasha Richardson. *Rupert will do the drum programming for "Gangsta's Paradise". *Del James will produce the album. *The quote of the album will be "You wanna step into my world? It's a sociopsychotic state of bliss." The album was released on April 5 and was pretty dark compared to previous albums. The band went to Donington, England to perform alongside Danzig, Michie Tomizawa, Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Chamillionaire, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots, New York Dolls and others at the Robert Knox Memorial Concert on November 21. A tour for The IPO Incident? started in August and wrapped up on October 31. The Steelers performed at Zepp in Minato at the 2009 Naoko Takeuchi Birthday Bash on March 15, 2009, along with Aya Hirano, Haruna Ikezawa, Yuko Goto, Scott Weiland, Everlast, and others. And that's not all--they're currently touring to support their album, and a new album, tentatively titled Ponytails and Projectiles, is planned for 2010. However, Rupert had to take a few days off from touring when he came down with a mild case of swine flu. Fortunately, W. Axl Rose had followed the band in anticipation of this, and Rupert hired him to fill in for him while he was recovering from swine flu. He was able to return to the tour on July 4, and Rose was able to continue concentrating on his own band's upcoming summer stadium tour. Ponytails and Projectiles and beyond Emma Watson has confirmed a bunch of songs for their upcoming Ponytails and Projectiles album, including "How the Gods Kill", "Dirty Black Summer", "Human Being", "Raining Blood", "My World", "Bad Obsession", "Locomotive", "Iron Man", "Raw Power", "Out Ta Get Me", "Coma", and previously soundtrack-exclusive tracks "New Rose" and "Shadow of Your Love". Also, starting in June 2010, a 13-episode season of their series RS will be broadcast late at night on PBS on Saturdays. Filming will take place on weekends at Kaufmann Astoria Studios in New York City, and the series will be produced by Disney ABC Domestic Television and Sony Pictures Television in association with WNET New York. However, in lieu of the "Bars of Boredom", the 1992 Columbia Pictures Television logo with the 1987 jingle will be used due to the logo community's backlash against the "Bars of Boredom" for plastering CPT logos. W. Axl Rose will have a major role as the band's neighbor. Also, the Steelers plan to do two Slayer-centric shows: Our Turn To Reign (scheduled for October 7, 2011), which will have the Steelers perform the entirety of Reign in Blood, and The Slayer 30th Anniversary Show (scheduled for March 25, 2012), which will have the Steelers perform every Slayer song ever released up to that point. Discography For LP and cassette track listings, see the album's article. For CD track listings and full discography, see Remington Steelers discography. *1999: The Remington Steelers *2001: Pirates of Encino *2002: Public Broadcasting Service *2003: Killer Steelers *2004: Speed *2005: The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Album *2006: You Snooze, You Lose *2007: In 3-D *2008: The IPO Incident? *2009: The Harsh Reality Tour setlists Tour de America (2003) For setlist, see Tour de America. The Speedy Tour (2004) For setlist, see The Speedy Tour. The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Tour (2005) For setlist, see The Guns N Roses 20th Anniversary Tour. You Snooze, You Lose Tour (2006) For setlist, see You Snooze, You Lose Tour. Tour de America in 3-D (2007) For setlist, see Tour de America in 3-D. The IPO Tour? (2008) For setlist, see The IPO Tour?. The Robert Knox Memorial Tour (2009) 1. November Rain 2. Don't Cry (original) 3. Estranged 4. This I Love 5. Street of Dreams 6. Live and Let Die 7. Gangsta's Paradise 8. The Beginning is the End is the Beginning 9. Twist of Cain 10. She Rides 11. Mother 12. Civil War 13. Black Hole Sun 14. Waga rōtashi aku no hana 15. So Fine 16. You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory 17. Le Moribond 18. Seikan hikou 19. Forever Love 20. Eye of the Tiger 21. Te wo toriatte 22. The Show Must Go On 23. Void in My Life 24. Wake Me Up When September Ends 25. Paint It Black 26. Sunday Bloody Sunday 27. If the World 28. Her Black Wings 29. Expendable Youth 30. Don't Cry (alternate lyrics) Ponytails and Projectiles Tour (2010) Starting with this tour, the set list varies from show to show. The full list can be found here. Category:Music